Life Lessons
by 4SSASSIN
Summary: A collection of short drabbles that weren't long enough to be stories, but good enough to be read. Each one has a life lesson just waiting to be learnt and discovered. Many characters. Rated T.


The soft music hummed softly in the background. Harry was now a grown man, it was years after he had attended Hogwarts and he missed each moment of it.

The seemingly impossible adventures, the family he called friends and his home for 7 years of his life. It seemed like only yesterday he had found the Philosipher Stone; slayed a Basilisk; rescued his framed Godfather; be forced to compete in the Triwizard Tournament; face the wrath of Dolores Umbridge; taken a memory from Professor Slughorn and killed Voldemort.

Now he was working in the Ministry of Magic and one of the top Aurors. He had managed to get a day off from work and decided to spend it in the muggle world. We was currently on a date with a random muggle girl he had met in a club not too far from the restaurant they were now at.

"Can you believe that! She said that to my face and that was when I decided that she was an arse. I went up to her and-" she continued to talk about whatever she was talking about. He wasn't listening.

Harry's thoughts had drifted cutting off what the girl was saying. Time and time again he found himself thinking back to his Hogwarts days. 'Why am I on this date again?' the girl across from him was not who he wanted to see. The image of a pale blond Slytherin girl entered his head.

Daphne Greengrass was a girl he had actually liked. After Cho Chang, he had decided to think things through before he went around asking girls out on a date. None of the girls in Gryffindor met his criteria. He looked into the other houses and none of the girls in Hogwarts matched his criteria; none of the girls except Daphne Greengrass.

He had asked her out and surprisingly she said yes without questioning his motives or asking something in return. They had secretly started dating and with the Room of Requirements, it wasn't too hard to recreate places for their date. She had cared for him and he had cared for her.

When he was in the Hospital Wing, she would visit at night when no one was there. When he was reckless, she talked logic into him. When she was on Umbridge's Inquisitor Squad and found out about the location of the DA meetings, she kept quiet.

When she was was tired or upset with her housemates, he would cheer her up. When she played too close by the rules, he made her live on the edge. When she had made a mistake in class, he would take the blame.

'That was in the past though. I ruined our relation.' he thought. He tried not to think about the memory and concentrate on his date, but his mind went back to the end of his sixth year.

**Flashback**

_"So what are you going to do now that you know Voldemort made Horcruxes?"she asked. He loved how she wasn't afraid to say Voldemort's name without the least bit of hesitation._

_"I'm not going to come back to Hogwarts next year. I need to finish the mission Dumbledore gave me. I need to hunt down the Horcruxes." he said._

_"What about us?" she said the words that were on both of their minds._

_"I don't know. I could die during this and I don't want you to be hurt if the Death Eaters find out about us..." he started._

_"So it's over between us?" It seemed like she knew the answer and she had stated it more than asked. He nodded unable to say the words that broke both their hearts. She bit her bottom lip, her 'Ice Queen' mask off._

_"Daphne, I just want you to know that I love you and I didn't regret being with you. I just didn't want you to be in constant paranoia that someone is trying to capture or kill you."_

_"I don't regret it either." they kissed one last time and made their separate ways out of the empty classroom. It seemed they had made their way out of each others lives._

**End of Flashback**

He would always feel his heart hurt after reliving that memory. He had thought of her over the summer, hunting the Horcruxes, fighting Voldemort.

When the battle was over, they found each other. She was with her best friend, Tracey Davis. They were both covered in dirt, sweat and blood having fought in the Battle of Hogwarts against the Death Eaters. They were smiling, a smile that Harry loved to see. She saw him and walked over.

"Harry, congratulations." she had said.

He stood there awkwardly before he smiled and hugged her. Their relation stayed as friends ever since then. They had talked and thought it was for the best. The two hung out and when they graduated Hogwarts, he had went into Auror training while she had wanted to travelled the world. They stayed in contact and he could call her right now if he wanted, but they stayed as friends.

Harry rubbed his temples. Why was he thinking about her? They did love each other in the past and he was absolutely sure she felt the same way. They were in love, just not any more.

As if there was a god or someone looking over him and wanted to prove Harry wrong, he opened a fortune cookie. The girl had wanted to go to the Chinese restaurant and as a desert, it was a fortune cookie. Inside was the paper and he read it.

**_You never stop loving someone. It is either that you never loved them or you still do._**

Harry read it and thought of himself. 'You never stop loving someone? It is either that you never loved them?' He knew he loved Daphne and felt something he never felt before. 'Or you still do?'

Like a bludger, realization smacked him in the face. "Rachel, I had a great time but I have to go right now." he placed down a few bills and left.

He was so focused on the task in mind, he couldn't even hear the girl scream back "My name is Jasmine!" Harry left the restaurant and entered a empty alley away from the busy streets of London.

When no muggles were looking, he apparated to a place he knew well enough to be his own. There was that tugging feeling and when he landed, he stumbled a bit before looking around. The same green curtains and couches with a white wall as last time. He almost tripped over a coffee table that was on a nice looking rug.

"Harry?" came the voice that he was looking for.

He turned around and saw here. "Daphne, I just realized something and wanted to ask you. Will you be my girlfriend?"

She almost spitted out the tea she was drinking. She ran to him and their bodies embraced in a hug while they kissed each other. "Yes, I will." she said.

**Moral: You never stop loving someone. It is either that you never loved them or you still do.**


End file.
